


The Boy

by JustAnotherObsessedFangirl



Series: Lake The Merman [1]
Category: H2O: Just Add Water, Mako Mermaids, Tales of Arcadia (Cartoons), Trollhunters - Daniel Kraus & Guillermo del Toro
Genre: Adoption, Family, Merbaby Jim, Mermaid Pod, Mermaids hate of Mermen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-08
Updated: 2020-08-08
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:42:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25781557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustAnotherObsessedFangirl/pseuds/JustAnotherObsessedFangirl
Summary: Medical student Barbara and her fiance James Lake have some very special, very magical friends in the local Pod of Mermaids, one of who takes them to see the cave where the hatchlings are born and they meet a sweet little Merman.
Relationships: Barbara Lake/James Lake Sr.
Series: Lake The Merman [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1870297
Comments: 1
Kudos: 27





	The Boy

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognise.**

Barbara had never been happier.

She’s attending the medical school of her dreams, engaged to the best guy and has the best secret. Her university assigned roommate turned best friend isn’t human and is in fact a magical mermaid. Alice (a blond, green eyed Mermaid covered in freckles) was born in a Pod near New York before moving to California and joining one of the three pods that live the area.

Barbara and James found out her secret a year ago when the sprinklers malfunctioned in their dorms and Alice had no where to hide. After swearing their secrecy their lifes changed, every spare minute not spend in class or studying was spent out on the reef, swimming with dolphins, exploring underwater caves and hanging out with Alice’s Pod. (though James doesn’t hang out with the Pod as much as she does, the Mermaids have a distrust of all men and he can only take so many rude comments and nasty looks.)

Today Alice is showing Barbara and James something special, something they’ve been trying get the council to agree to for months, seeing the hatchery.

Mermaids lay eggs instead of giving birth, they lay them in a neutral underwater cave in the first hour of the summer solstice where the Mermen come and fertilise them in the last hour of the solstice, (as the Mermaids are long long gone of course.) 30 days later the egg hatches and the Mother gets herself a little girl.

At least that’s how Alice said it, then proceeded to ignore all questions about what happens if the hatchling is a little boys.

The Mermaids hatred of men has always raised her eyebrow, the war must have been very very bad if they still hold onto this much hatred and fear a thousand years later.

“ _Here we are”_ Alice signs as they swim in.

Barbara and James swim in after her in their scuba gear and look around in wonder.

The cave is deep and dark, the only light is the white glow coming from the 4 dozen cat size mer-eggs spread out on the cave floor. (and their head lights.)

“ _Incredible”_ Barbara signs, smiling around her breather.

James nods in agreement, _“Amazing.”_

“ _They won’t hatch for two more days”_ Alice signs, drifting closer to one egg in particular and touching it gently.

Barbara moves to have a better look at it, _“That your sisters?”_ Alice told her that her sister Jenny had laid an egg, makes sense this would be Jenny’s.

Alice nods, a wide smile on her face _“It is. My little niece”_ she pats the egg _“Can’t wait to meet you.”_

“ _All of these have a mermaid inside?”_ James questions.

“ _With any luck, yes”_ she nods, looking back to the egg.

Barbara looks away from Alice and around at the eggs again........wait did that one move?

She turns to look closer, it moves again.

Barbara waves her hand to get the other attention, _“Look, It’s hatching!”_

The others swim to her side at full speed.

“ _But they’re not due to hatch for two more days!”_ Alice frowns, looking to the wiggling egg sack.

“ _Some times babies come early. That’s life_ ” James shrugs, looking curiosity to the hatching little one.

The egg sack moves again, this time it tears open and a baby swims out. It has a dark hair, a brown that is almost black, adorable bright blue eyes and light skin, but what stands out the most in the lovely blue tail.

Barbara has never seen a mermaid with a blue tail, its always a shade of orange. That must mean this is a boy.

He is adorable.

Alice frowns, swimming away from the baby when he spots her and swims towards her, _“A boy”_ she sneers.

“ _So?”_ Barbara questions swimming towards the baby, a kind smile on her face (hopefully it is still effective through the diving gear) and holds out a hand to him.

The little merman looks to her hand questioningly, swimming forward and reaching out, his tiny hand grabbing at her fingers.

Her smile widens, “ _Cute”_ she signs with her free hand, pulling the baby close to her chest.

“ _Very”_ James agrees, smiling at the sweet little baby before wrapping a arm around her.

“ _No he’s not”_ Alice frowns, _“Boys aren’t cute. They are nothing but trouble, I need to tell the council about him”_ she turns to leave.

Barbara grabs her arm before she can leave, _“Wait, what are they going to do with him?”_ she signs carefully with one hand, the other wrapped around the baby. Who is snuggling up to her.

“ _And his parents right, you’re going to talk to his parents?”_ James adds, taking his arm away from her to sign, _“Well Dad”_ he amends remembering that there are no men in the Pod.

She snorts, a weird thing underwater, _“No that’s not how this works”_ she tells them but doesn’t elaborate.

Barbara raises a hard eyebrow at her friend then looks down at the sweet little baby. She’ll never understand how the Mermaids are so against the other gender. _“Alice, you’ve been avoiding this since I asked weeks ago. You can’t avoid it now when I’m holding him in my arms. Tell me what’s going to happen to him.”_

Her shoulders fall, _“You won’t like it”_ she warns.

“ _I didn’t think we would. Tell us”_ James frowns at her seriously.

Alice shakes her head but does sign, _“Caves like this exist because of the treaty that was sighed after the war. We Mermaids wanted nothing to do with the men, but we can’t have daughters without men, so this was the agreement. Once a year any Mermaid who wanted a child would tell the council and two weeks before the solstice the number would be written on paper and placed in a cave with an air pocket, and the Mermen would send the same number of men the solstice. It does not matter if these men want a child or not, it is their obligation by law to come. If any boys are hatched they are given legs and dumbed on an agreed beach, were they are then sent into the foster system and moved around regularly.”_

Barbara freezes, _“The foster system”_ she repeats, looking down at the sweet little baby. She’s heard horror stories, seen news stories it’s not far that this sweet little boy is going to grow up without family.

“ _Surely some of these men want their sons?”_ James frowns before touching the babies head kindly.

Alice shrugs _“Maybe some do. But it is rare.”_

“ _You’re right. I don’t like it”_ Barbara frowns, _“Maybe their Fathers don’t want them, maybe they do, But these are still children of your Pod, **your** sons. This sweet little boy is the son of one of your friends. You’re telling me that she wants nothing to do with her own son?”_

“ _She won’t want anything to do with her own son”_ she agrees bluntly before shaking her head and changing the subject, _“Come on we should get back before you run out of air.”_ and she swims away.

Barbara and James share an annoyed look, then she adjusts the baby in her arms and follows them out.

They surface only 20 minutes later, but Barbara keeps the baby under water (though doing so goes against every instinct) not sure if he can breath air yet, “Alice can I bring him above water?” she checks.

Alice shakes her head, “Not for the first few months, or until he’s given his legs.” she turns away from them, “I’ll tell the council” with that she swims away.

“Well that didn’t go as I thought it would” James comments, looking to the baby.

“No kidding” Barbara shakes her head, before looking to the baby as well “He is so cute” she smiles, running a hand over his sparkly blue tail.

He lets out a heavy sigh, “No.”

She blinks innocently, “No? What do you mean dear, I was just saying this baby is cute.”

“No you weren’t” he frowns, “But we are both in medical school, we can’t have kids.....not now.”

Dammit, he knows her too well. “I know that’s what we agreed. But that was before him, James you can’t honestly stan-swim there and tell me you want this baby to grow up alone in the foster system.”

“Of course I don’t. But that doesn’t mean we have to be the ones to take care of him” he shakes his head, “Babs, we’re medical students. School is already hard enough, do you want to throw care of a baby on top of everything these? If we do this we’ll have no time to live our lives.”

“We can make time” she defences, looking down at the sweet little face, she can’t leave him to the foster system.

James pulls a face, “Can we? Babs people say that all the time but it doesn’t mean it’s true! Think this through Barbara. Yes the foster system isn’t ideal, but the Mermaids send all the Mermen into the foster system, you can’t save all of them.”

“You don’t think I know that?” she huffs, “What happens to the boys isn’t fair and I plan to push very _very_ hard with the Pod to do something about it” she promises pulling the baby even closer, “But he is here now and I can’t let him go.”

James blinks, “You can’t be serious. Babs you do this and our whole lives change.”

Her heart sinks and she looks down, the little Merman is staring up at her with curiosity shining in his deep blue eyes, and his right hand is raised, reaching up and trying to grab her loose hair were it floats in the water. It doesn’t make any sense but she loves him. “I’m sorry James but I can’t abandon him.”

He pulls away from her, swimming backwards “You would chose him over me” he whisperers, his heart seeming to break.

“No!” she shakes her head frantically “Of course not. I love you James, with all my heart. But.......”

“But if I don’t agree to be his Father you’ll raise him alone” he cuts in frowning.

She looks away, “I’m sorry James. I can’t turn my back on him.”

“So you’re turning on me.”

Her heart breaks, “James.......”

“I’m back!” Alice breaks through the water, appearing between them.

‘Later’ Barbara mouths before looking at her friend, “That was fast” she comments.

“It was a easy answer” she shrugs trying to look apologetic, “I am to give the boy his legs and bring him straight to the beach. They want him out of our waters as soon as possible.” she raises her hand towards the baby, her ring glowing. “Take him out of the water” she orders.

Barbara frowns, “You said he couldn’t go above water for a few months.”

“He can’t” she agrees, “Unless I give him legs. He’ll be uncomfortable for a few minutes, but once he has legs he’ll be able to breath again.”

She hesitantly brings him above water, out of the water he screams and screams, before the blue light from Alice’s ring engulfs him, when it fades he his totally dry and instead of a small blue tail he has two tiny legs and has stop screaming.

She lowers him back into the water, letting his tail come back and keeping his head above water. “So your just going to dumb him on a beach?” she frowns disapprovingly, “You don’t even know if the Mermen are watching the beach two days before the babies are suppose to be born.”

James frowns, “Hate to agree with Babs but she right. How do you know he won’t just lay on the beach until the Mermen........or land people find him........what if he starves?” James frowns and looks to Alice’s scale covered bosoms “........Wait, what do Merbabies eat?”

“James!” Barbara shoots him a look, it’s a good question, but a rude one.

Alice folds her arms over her breast, her face scarlet red “A slit appears in the scales when a Mother has a daughter to feed........and I think the males mix formula with special types of seaweed, not that it’s your business.”

“Actually” Barbara swims forward, “It’s my business if I’m going to feed him. Alice I want to adopt the baby.”

“What?” Alice’s eyes widen, “You want to keep that _boy_!”

Barbara smiles down at the baby “Of course I do.”

“Are you sure his Mom doesn’t want him?” James pushes.

“Very” Alice promises surely.

“And his Dad?” James asks like its his last hope.

“How would I know?” she shakes her head, “You’d have to ask him. The boy is number 44......there are numbers on the ground in front of each eggs not within the human ability to see. The men place the number in front of them so we can place it on the boys and they can know which are their sons, when left on the beach. If you tell whoever if waiting that this is number 44 they’ll be able to tell you if the Father wants the _boy_.”

“Great!” James let out a relieved breath, “So lets go the beach and ask!”

Barbara frowns, is he really so against being a Father?

“This way” Alice nods to the right before she takes off swimming.

Barbara puts her breathing gear back on and follows her friend, holding the baby close.

It doesn’t take long to reach the small private beach that sits in front of a thick woods........a thick wood with a tent visible behind the treeline.

“There!” she points swimming closer.

“I’m not coming” Alice swims backwards, a frown set on her face. “I’m not going to talk to a _Merman_ ” with a sneer she ducks back under the water.

“Come on” James calls, walking toward shore.

Barbara nods, adjusting the baby in her arms, his blue tail flicking against her as she walks onto shore. “Hello!” she calls to the tent.

It unzips, “What?” a middle aged balding dark skinned in obnoxiously bright shirt, grey shorts and flip-flips man frowns in confusion, his eyes widen in surprise at seeing them, but they almost fall out when he spots the blue tailed baby in her arms.

He runs forward and barley stopping himself from ripping the baby from her arms, “Where did you find him?” he frowns looking to the baby worriedly.

“Relax” Barbara smiles kindly, “We aren’t randoms who found him and are going to cause you trouble. One of our best friends is apart of the Mermaid Pod, we saw this little one hatch.”

He relaxes, “Oh, thank god for that. I’m Sam, I handle all Mermen babies transition into foster homes” he offers a hand.

“James” James shakes the offered hand.

“Barbara” she shakes it too, “Nice too meet you.”

“The same to you” he nods before taking out his phone, “Did the ladies tell his number?”

“44” she answers, hoping, though its a mean thing to hope, that the father doesn’t want him.

“44, 44” he frowns scrolling on his phone, “Lets see, 44...............yes here we are.” he lowers the phone, “Looks like the Father doesn’t want this one.”

Barbara can’t stop herself from smiling, “Great! Uh, I mean that’s his choice. Tell me you’re a social worker right? Would I be able to adopt him?”

“What?” he blinks, “You want to...........are you sure?” he checks, “A baby is a lot of responsibility, a magical one even more so.”

“I know, and I am sure” she nods confidently, she is sure. This is her son, she can feel it in her bones and she’s not giving him up.

“You have a job, a home, people to help you?” he keeps going.

“I’m a medical student and I work at the hospital as a cleaner while I work towards being a Doctor” she answers, “I live in the dorms at the moment” she admits, “But my Grandmother left me a house.”

James blinks, “In _Arcadia_! That’s a hour away from school!”

“I’ll commute” she shrugs.

Sam looks her over, “You’re very sure of this aren’t you?”

“Yes” she nods, looking down at the still wet, so still with a tail baby, “I can’t explain it but......he’s _my_ baby.”

Sam smiles, “I see that” he takes a card out of his pocket. “I’m stuck here for the rest of the week watching for little Mermen, but this is my partners number. Give him a call, and he’ll take care of everything.”

“Thank you” she smiles, taking the number.

His smiles turns into a frown, “Normally I’d have to take him until the paperwork is through” he looks back to the baby, “But I don’t think he’d like that” he turns back to his tent and gets something from inside, a large bottle, “It’s special formula for Merbabies. This should get him through the night til Tom, my partner can check on you.”

She takes it gratefully, “Thank you” turning to leave.

He smiles back, stopping her from leaving with a hand in her way, "I still need all of your information before you swim off with him.”

"Of course" she nods quickly, oops.

It takes over an hour to fill out all of the paperwork, a very quiet hour on James's part.

“So, what are you going to do now?” Barbara asks him after they get out of the taxi outside her dorm.

James lets out a loud huff, “Babs I-” he shakes his head, “There’s not talking you out of this is there?”

“Nope” she agrees seriously, “You are engaged to the mother of a new born now, the only question left is if I’m going to be a single mother” she turns to face him head on, “James I know you didn’t ask for this and I’m sorry to put you the spot like this. If you can’t handle it I won’t be mad, I’m not to force something like this on you.”

His eyes soften, as he opens the door to her room “Barbara, I-”

“Guys!” Alice who is sitting on her bed, cuts him off. “Looks like you got keep him” she notes, “I thought that might be the case.”

Barbara closes the door behind her and locks it, “Yeah, I’ll be moving into my Grandmothers old place.”

“So I’ll be in need of a new roommate,” she frowns, “I’ll miss you.”

“You too” Barbara smiles, “But I’ll see you in class everyday, and we can still hang out in and out of the water.”

“Yeah” she nods, “Speaking of, I told the Pod that you’re taking in the boy and they made it very, very clear you’re not allowed to bring him into our territory” she tells her friend unapologetically, “If he puts one toe or fin in our water..........well” she frowns, “Well best just keep him out of the water.”

“The Pod is threatening my son?” she frowns, Barbara knows they don’t like Mermen but they wouldn't really hurt him, would they?

“Yes” she agrees bluntly before sighing, “Look, you’re my friend so I will help you, I’ll teach him to control his power and the moon spell. But nothing more than that” she vows.

At least it’s something, “Thank you” Barbara smiles anyway, hugging the little boy close.

Alice smiles back before looking between James and Barbara, “Well I’m sure you two have a lot to talk about” she smirks then runs fast them and out the door.

Leaving James and Barbara alone.

“Okay” James sighs, “Look I might not love the idea of kids right now, but I do love you. I’m all in.”

Barbara grins, running forward and kissing him, “Have I told you that I love you lately?”

He tils his head, “No, not I don’t think so” he grins kissing her again.

She grins, “Well I guess I need to say it more often.”

“Yes you do” he grins before looking down cheekily at the baby, “So names, personally I’ve always liked the idea of James Lake Jr.”

She raises an eyebrow, “James Jr? Someone's got a big head.” though on the other hand it does have a nice ring to it.........


End file.
